1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card printer, and more particularly, to a card printer having a height of a card inlet and a height of a card outlet that are approximately the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are different types of printers, some for printing documents and some for printing photos or cards. Generally, there are two printing methods implemented in a card printer. One is dye sublimation and the other is hot stamping. Take dye sublimation for example. This technique utilizes a solid ribbon to transfer colors, in an overlapping manner, onto a card for printing patterns. The ribbon typically includes four sections, yellow, magenta, cyan, and overcoating (YMCO). When printing, a thermal print head heats colored dyes on the ribbon, and due to the temperature change, the color dye is temporarily liquefied and is transferred onto the card. Then, the color dyes are cooled and thus fixed on the card to impart a colorful pattern.
In addition to color printing, hot stamping is also used for printing patterns or letters. The ribbon for hot stamping is different from a YMCO ribbon. And card printers only can have one type of ribbon installed at a time. If both color printing and hot stamping are required, two card printers are needed, one for color printing and another for hot stamping. When the first card printer completes color printing, an operator must deliver cards output from the first card printer to the second card printer for hot stamping. It is really inconvenient, wastes time, and consumes labor.